St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-05
The Secretary Of the Interior
Submits His Report to
the President.
He Deals Largely With Mat
tePs Of Interest to North
western People.
A Thorough Dissection and
Discussion Of the Intricate
Land Problems.
A Document Full Of Sound
Logic and Worthy Of
Careful PePuSal.

WAsHHGToN. Dec. 1.-The report of
Secretary Lamar will be given out for
general circulation tomorrow. Fol-
lowing is full and comprehensive alb
stract. that portion relating to land
matters being almost verbatim:
PUBLIC LANDS.
Under existing laws it is app aren't
that the area of Our public land is rap
idly diminishing. This would not be
an evil if the lands were passing from
the government to seats of actual occu-
patton by bona fide settlers, or bona
fide purchasers for purposes of settle
ment. Nothing can be SuTer safe
guard in Il free community against the
dominating Influences Of powerful cor
pOrationS and combinations Of capital
than a body of Independent small land
owners living upon their own freeholdS.
But the facts are known to be other
wise. 1t Is a subject TO which L have
been forced by the necessities OF my
position 10 give much thought. and the
conclusion 10 which l have come is that
most Of the troubles and abuses that
environ it can be removed by legislative
action: and that such action is the sole
remedy.
A detailed statement of the work per-
formed in the general land office and its
various agencies throughout the cOun
try j. fully set forth in the report of the
commissioner and the documents there
with submitted. 1t shows cOmmenda-
BILE zeal in the purpose to preserve the
public domain, to prevent fraud and
Illegally in the requirement of large
areas of public land. and TO recover
them from unlawful possession and APP
preparation.
LANDS RESTORED.
The commissioner states that the fol-
lowing amounts of lands have been re-
stored to the public domain since March
4. 1885:
Acres.
Area within railroad limits. sos, 1777.33
Area within railroad indem-
nity limits. ................21 p, S2S, GOO. 90
Private land claims. $500. 576, 100000
Fraudulent entries cancelled. 400,000.00
Invalid swamp and other
state selections Cancelled. $50. 704. 46
Total restored to the pub
lie domain 81 50, 4S1. 19
In the effort to ascertain the proper
ton of the above amount which was re-
stored during the last fiscal year, |
caused a thorough examination of the
records of the land department to be
made. but was unable to obtain the de-
sired information.
However. the investigation resulted
in showing that from March ). 1885, to
Oct. l. 1887. the number of entries CAN
ceIed for fraud, illegality, abandonment
and other causes amounted to 91.07S, EN-
bracing an area of II, 23S, 9l3.04 acres,
making an aggregate of lands restored
to the public domain of il. 1868, Ss4 acres.
In addition there are suits in the United
States courts. and matters pending be-
fore the department, amounting in the
aggregate to 9,499, 4S0-10.
OF this amount 2,S97, S69.S5 acres were
''adjudged by the commissioner to be
subject to recovery under the adjust
ment of railroad grants, so far as such
adjustments have been completed"
Nine grants arc stated TO have been adj
juSted, three of which have been trans
United to this department. Two of
these adjustments, those of the main
and branch line of the Chicago. Mime
apOliS & Omaha Railway company,
were passed upon Oct. :, 1857, and re-
turned to the commissioner for readJust-
ment. The question presented and de-
cided in that case was whether that
particular granting act by congress in
that case allowed indemnity for about
U-sbbt dNl & VI oh all 4t.iibo anu fNpOub
5000 acres included within an Indian
reservation. The exact phraseoiOgy of
the indemnity granted by that act was
for lands ''sOld. reserved, or otherwise
disposed of" The commissioner held
that swamp lands and re- eryationS did
not fall within that language. The sec
rotary held that they did so fall.
DISPOSAL OF PUBLIC LAND.
From the report of the commissioner
of the general land Office it appears that
the number of acres of land disposed of
during the past fiscal year, under the
various acts of congress authorizing
sales, entries, and selections. aggre-
gates 25.111. 400.S4. of which 746, 637.29
acres were Indian lands, 5,5l1 .S07.33
railroad selections. and ?, 109. 4l3.43 Sc
lectionS under other grants; the aggre-
gate amount showing an increase of
4,S62, 524.5 acres, as compared with the
previous year. Tine receipts from dis
pOsal of the public lands were so, 1S3.-
:92LT2: from sales of Indian lands.
81, 49,. 1902 20: total of S12, 26S, 224.02, an
increase over the previous year of
s., pa, Pros. To which is to be added
1921 received on account Of timber
depredatiOns. and 81, 493. 50 received for
certified copies of records furnished by
the general land Office. making receipts
of that bureau from all sources S12, 49,,
00S.S1.
ENTRIES AND FILINGS.
The total number of entries and fl
iHgs made during the year was 24S,17S,
covering IS. 35351. 039.41 acres: an increase
of 1.770 over the previous year; whilst
the number of original homestead en-
tries was 52,02S, covering an area of
1884, $50. Is acres: decrease Of 9,G10 ell
tries and 1.550. 1850 acres. Final proof
was made on 10. SG6 homestead entries.
of which 10,201 were committed home
stead entries and 321 purchased under
the act of June u. 1880, an increase of
$40 entries and of S5.505.65 acres. The
presumption entries were 21,403. en-
bracing 3.112,411.S0 acres. an increase of
5,691 entries and of S93, 1891 acres.
During the year 1882 mineral entries
were made, covering 2S,7S7.S2 acres.
This is decrease of 10 entries and an
increase of 400 acres.
PATENTS ISSUED.
The number of patents issued during
the year upon agricultural land was
4.55S. an increase of 4,073 over the pre-
ViouS year. according to the report of
the commissioner, but a decrease, as
compared with 1885, of 4S,G14.
In this connection it is to be stated
that my immediate predecessor in the
department called attention TO the great
abuses flowing from the illegal acquisi-
ton of land titles by fictitious entries
and the ubiquitous eXactiOns made upon
''bona fide settlers, who are often
obliged to buy off such claims in order
to get access to the public lands" He
states through the then commissioner,
whom he quotes apprOvingly, that enor-
nous numbers of presumption claims
are filed for illegal and fraudulent
purposes: that large areas of
agricultural and grazing land are
entered in fictitious names for the
purpose of holding lands in large
quantities, in violation of the spirit if